(A) Public and private freedoms
shall be protected.
(B) The right of free expression
shall be protected.
(C) The right of free peaceable
assembly and the right to join associations freely, as
well as the right to form and join unions and
political parties freely, in accordance with the law,
shall be guaranteed.
(D) Each Iraqi has the right of free
movement in all parts of Iraq and the right to travel
abroad and return freely.
(E) Each Iraqi has the right to
demonstrate and strike peaceably in accordance with
the law.
(F) Each Iraqi has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience, and religious belief
and practice. Coercion in such matters shall be
prohibited.
(G) Slavery, the slave trade, forced
labor, and involuntary servitude with or without pay,
shall be forbidden.
(H) Each Iraqi has the right to
privacy.
There is also a provision akin to the
U.S. Fourth Amendment, which prohibits searches without
a warrant, along with a right to a "fair, speedy and
open trial."
Property rights also are guaranteed in
the constitution: "Each Iraqi citizen shall have the
full and unfettered right to own real property in all
parts of Iraq without restriction."
The only reference to individual
ownership of arms is a provision about militias in
Article 27:
"Armed forces and militias not under
the command structure of the Iraqi Transitional
Government are prohibited, except as provided by federal
law. "
Individual gun ownership, then, can
easily be restricted by use of statutory law.
A leading gun-rights organization
strongly disagreed with leaving out a right to bear
arms.
"It's a very big mistake," said Erich
Pratt, director of communications for
Gun
Owners of America. "What an interesting contrast to
what our Founding Fathers thought."
Pratt emphasized America's founders
believed it crucial for citizens to have the right to
own arms to prevent what Iraq has endured for decades:
tyranny.
"The right of people to keep and bear
arms was the best check to tyranny" the Founding Fathers
put into place, Pratt told WND.
Angel Shamaya, founder and executive
director of
Keep and Bear Arms decried what he sees as a lack of
religious freedom along with the absence of gun rights.
"They've set up a situation where
religious persecution can continue," he said, referring
to the fact Islam has been established as the official
state religion.
Shamaya says the banning of militias
will hinder minority religions.
"Militias have enabled minority
religions to defend themselves from the majority
religion," he noted.
Shamaya also criticized the "search
and seizure" provision of the new plan: "The don't have
a Second Amendment, and they don't have an adequate
Fourth Amendment.
"It's a tin-pot dictatorship waiting
to happen," he said. "If the U.S. Constitution is the
best there is, why doesn't the Iraqi constitution more
accurately emulate ours?"
Nancy Beck, a spokeswoman with the
U.S. State Department emphasized the new blueprint is
temporary and for transitional purposes only.
"One of the thing we have to keep in
mind is it's a transitional administrative law," she
told WND. "It will allow the new interim government to
have a structure."
Said Beck, "They're still working on a
permanent constitution."
The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional
Authority under the leadership of Paul Bremer has had
significant input into the drafting of the new law. The
preamble mentions the United Nations, saying the Iraqis
are "working to reclaim their legitimate place among
nations."